The problems aboard Good Morning America's Whistle-Stop Tour are not over. Yesterday we told you about growing concerns inside ABC about Diane, Robin, Sam, and Chris touring the country in a train just after the same mode of transportation killed 25 people, as well as the scandals plaguing the producers responsible for keeping the show running. Now, we're told, more drama:

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JOSSIP REPORTS — Good Morning America is embarking on something called the Whistle-Stop Tour, which, like every other news entity seems to be doing, wants to visit all 50 states before Nov. 4. Timeline: 50 days. As we understand it, it's basically a glorified witch hunt for swing voters.

And like John McCain's Straight Talk Express, Diane, Robin, Chris, and Sam have The GMA Express, their very own customized choo-choo train to take them all over this great nation, from which they'll also broadcast live. (Except: Hasn't rail service to America's small towns been slashed dramatically over the past decade?) There's a video explaining the whole concept here.

Indeed, it's a pure ratings stunt.

Too bad the whole thing is coming off the rails (groan!) thanks to a mountain of in-fighting, old scandals again rearing their heads, and the most recent association Americans have with trains: how they just killed 25 people.

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In honor of the six-year anniversary of 9/11, GMA anchor Chris Cuomo heads to Pakistan to "bring viewers reports on the ongoing hunt for Osama bin Laden and the continuing war on terror." Really, has it been six years already? Wow…sounds like that hunt's been going pre-tty well. [TVNewser]

With NBC's Today show makes headlines with its coming fourth hour – launching a week from today with Ann Curry, Natalie Morales, and Hoda Kotb hosting – and CBS's The Early Show snaps up Shelley Ross to exec produce, ABC's Good Morning America doesn't want to be left out of the press cheers. So they're launching an additional hour, except just like ABC News Now, few will be watching it. That's because GMA's third hour will be available only on the web under the name Good Morning America Now. (You'd be correct in sensing a "Now" theme for ABC's web ops.)

At the helm is Chris Cuomo, the much-maligned TV superstar hopeful whose credentials were put in serious doubt ever since one-time cheerleader Diane Sawyer stopped backing him.

Oh, and naturally, ABC's decision to create its third hour of programming came, according GMA Now's exec producer Jessica Stedman Guff,, "independently" of NBC's trumped up broadcast.

For ABC News, it was a scene out of, well, ABC News: a news anchor at the center of an IED attack in Iraq.

First there was Bob Woodruff – recovering from shrapnel-laced injuries and on his way to hosting a special – and now there's Good Morning America punching bag Chris Cuomo.

Despite the rib kicks we've delivered to Cuomo in the past, we're happy to report that he's doing just fine and is uninjured after his Humvee entourage sustained a roadside bomb explosion. He was joined by ABC photographer Bartley Price, who is also doing well. (Some of the soldiers with him "suffered minor injuries.")

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• Time mag attempts to poach The New York Times' columnists; gets "brutally rebuffed" by op-ed contributors MoDo and Tom Friedman.

• Jared Paul Stern is cleared of extortion charges, plans to celebrate by throwing a really big lawsuit.

• Rupert Murdoch enters the billionaires' bidding-war over Tribune, hoping to combine the New York Newsday and the New York Post into new, crappy hybrid.

• GMA anchor Chris Cuomo comes this-close to being killed in that Iraq war President Bush keeps promising us we'll win.

• So apparently, you're not encouraged to take $50K joyrides on the company's private jet.

• The pervy NYT was right on the money-shot! Porn industry expected to determine the future of HDTV.

Exclusive

If you were around for Chris Cuomo's live coverage of James Brown's death, you already know where this item is headed: the shitter.

It's no secret on W. 66th that Milgram-duplicator Cuomo is on the outs with pretty much everyone at ABC — even, some say (including us), Diane Sawyer, his mentor and biggest cheerleader. From his John Mark Karr debacle to his on-air fumbling of James Brown's death, more than one ABC insider tells us his colleagues aren't impressed.

While Cuomo broke the news of Brown's death on-air, he wasn't asked back for Brown's funeral – even though he's the news reporter – when Sawyer was in Africa and unavailable. Rather, Charles Gibson was brought in for the task. How come? Cuomo's bungled first attempt might have something to do with it:

KATE SNOW: Such a loss. It happened so quickly, too.
CHRIS CUOMO: Yeah. It happens sometimes. But you know with him, the music lives on…
KATE SNOW: Yeah.
CHRIS CUOMO: …and that's a good legacy.
KATE SNOW: The inspiration.
CHRIS CUOMO: Absolutely. Yeah.

So while Cuomo is left on the sidelines, Diane Sawyer remains holding the GMA ship steady. Still.

One insider tells us that when GMA executive producer Jim Murphy recently attempted a massive staff overhauling, Diane put the kabosh on it. In a two-hour private meeting, we hear, Sawyer went over Murphy's ideas point-by-point to explain how wrong each of them was. In the end, it was Sawyer's reshuffling plan that went into motion, despite the memo Murphy's name was attached to.

All of which should give Cuomo some pause: Even though he tells February's Elle magazine that he doesn't want Sawyer's job – "I am the news anchor. The hosts are the hosts … and they are very capable. I am the low man on the depth chart on this team." – we hear otherwise. While Diane has recommitted until early summer at least, it's clear she's desperate to move on — and Chris has long been witnessed trying to make calculated moves to be her replacement.

Though, naturally, nobody at ABC would ever have it. Says one ABC staffer: "The moment Diane leaves, wave goodbye to Chris, too."

Exclusive

First Barbara Walters helps herself to a get with Fidel Castro, and now ABC cohort Chris Cuomo is going after his own tabloid-worthy affair. We hear Chris is anchoring a 20/20 special that recreates the testing of psychologist Stanley Milgram, who in 1961 studied whether an average person would follow orders to inflict pain on others. In Milgram's experiment, it was electroshocking strangers, but it's real world application was to see how easy it was to get someone to go along with, say, Hitler.

Now, an insider tells us, Chris has recreated a version of the experiment, with Santa Clara University's Dr. Jerry Burger, to see whether Milgram's 45-year-old results – that the average person would inflict pain on someone else if told to do so – still hold true today.

And do they? You bet the coal in your stocking they do. The experiement's subjects go right along and follow their orders as told. Sure, Chris' version is a bit tamer – something about meeting the ethical standards of some frumpy psychological institute – but when the special airs on Jan. 3, we'll finally have proof about those sadistic rumors floating around about Cuomo. You know, the rumors we just made up.

(An earlier version of this story claimed Diane Sawyer, not Chris Cuomo, was behind the special. We're blaming a copy/paste error.)

Last Friday, ABC threw a little party for Good Morning America staffers, including new additions Chris Cuomo and Sam Champion. Everything was all well and good (we presume) except for one little blip: Diane Sawyer was MIA.

ABC tells Rush & Molloy that Sawyer was sick. She landed back in NYC Friday after her Mel Gibson interview in L.A. (the first he's given since his DUI arrest) and was "sick in bed." GMA staffers, however, tell a different story.

One source says, "The staff took Diane's absence as a clear message she is leaving the show, and is slowly starting to separate herself from it."

That's so sweet. Those staffers sure are wishin' and hopin' and dreamin' and prayin' that Sawyer will get up and go already. The part where ABC says they were the ones who urged her not to come to the party doesn't really help the case either.

Side Dish [Rush & Molloy, Daily News]

In case you doubted our exclusive report last week about ABC's Chris Cuomo landing the John Mark Karr get – as some ABC insiders did when we originally inquired – let this serve as confirmation: Karr and two ABC producers were stopped by police in San Francisco Friday night after the faux-JonBenet Ramsey killer was spotted wandering around the grounds of a of a school he used to work at.

Police said an employee of the Convent of the Sacred Heart school in San Francisco, where Karr worked briefly as a teacher's aide in 2000, called police when she spotted Karr near the school.

"He stepped out of the limo and stood (outside the school) for two or three minutes, walked down the sidewalk, went up to the door and looked in the window, Mannina said of Karr.

Scaring the community for some B-roll? Cuomo, you should be ashamed. Or red faced. In the end, ABC has decided to pull the interview entirely, based on Karr's "behavior." The network's Jeffrey Schneider, senior communications VP, tells us: "Our producers were extremely upset by what Karr did, called NY and were told to shut down the interview."

Now, which behavior was it that most upset ABC: His strolling around school grounds, or his false admission to killing a child beauty pageant queen to get out of a Thai prison?

John Mark Karr, TV Producers Stopped Near School [AP]
Earlier: Chris Cuomo's John Mark Karr 'Get' Leaves ABC Staffers Upset – With Diane Sawyer?

(This item was updated from its original version.)

Could Diane Sawyer's fondness of protege Chris Cuomo be waning? After yesterday's item about Cuomo's John Mark Karr get – which Sawyer turned down, to the disappointment of many – loose lips from West 66th have been flooding our inbox.

While it was Diane's doing that brought Cuomo to Good Morning America from Primetime (though they both still hold down the fort at the latter program), more than one ABC source questions Sawyer's loyalty to the brother of an attorney general candidate.

Says one ABC insider: "For now, everyone thinks Diane supports Cuomo. That's what matters. Of course, the truth is a mystery. That's the way it always is. Does she like someone; does she hate someone? No one ever knows the truth."

Relays another: "Sawyer is only going to approve of someone if it helps her in some way. But from the looks of things, bringing him to GMA isn't helping her. So you connect the dots."

To which we ask? Helping her do what? Remain in Barbara Walters' shadow?

Elsewhere, we hear Diane is fond of Cuomo's "manliness" and "physical presence."

And as for how Cuomo ended up with the biggest get of the month, another ABC insider tattles: "The only way Chris would get that Karr interview is if Diane put her stamp of approval on it." So there.

Meanwhile, There is one gauge to measure the relations between Sawyer and Cuomo. We hear GMA just named a new senior producer to the roster: Chris Vlasto. Besides being linked to Bill Clinton's impeachment (among other things), Vlasto was, interestingly, "Cuomo's handler" at Primetime. Certainly Diane wouldn't be bolstering GMA's ranks with Cuomo allies if she was done taking his side, right? That, or there's the whole "keep your enemies closer" mantra we'll have to turn to.

Exclusive

Ever since Chris Cuomo landed on ABC's Good Morning America in September (while continuing to co-anchor Primetime), staffers haven't taken a liking to him. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that he can't read the teleprompter. Or maybe it's his being on stage next to brother and state attorney general candidate Andrew Cuomo, clapping whenever Hillary Clinton's name is mentioned — not exactly kosher for an "objective" journalist. Either way, it seems his only remaining ally is Primetime and GMA partner Diane Sawyer, who brought him to the morning show.

But the twosome's close relationship is, we hear, setting off another round of disgruntlement. We've learned ABC has scored an exclusive sit-down with John Mark Karr, of JonBenet Ramsey's murder notoriety. But Sawyer, in an effort not to attach herself to such sleaze, has refused to be the one firing off questions for the huge ABC get — a get that comes on the heels of August's much-touted exclusive with Quintana Shotts, Karr's ex-wife.

So with Diane opting out of the interview, who will be fielding it? Chris Cuomo is, of course. And around ABC, he seems to be the only one pleased about it. Suffice to say, most folks would've much preferred Diane to take the interview.

We are so grateful New York magazine was able to capture this special moment between Sam Champion and Chris Cuomo, two of the new faces joining ABC's Good Morning America.

We know the caption says that Sam and Chris are saying "Good Morning, America."

Yet it seems that the phrase Cumo is uttering here went more along the lines of, "Omigiod, like America? Totally Fab Morning!"

Breakfast With Champion [Jada Yuan, New York Magazine]

Yes, Good Morning America is still in existence. Recently, Robin Roberts replaced the departed Charlie Gibson, and now GMA is bringing on Chris Cuomo as their news editor. He's been kicking around ABC for a while, hosting Primetime and working as a "senior legal correspondent." And yes, he is governor Mario Cuomo's son … and Andrew Cuomo's brother.

“You have to be willing to give yourself to the audience,” he said in a telephone interview, adding, “There’s an expectation of intimacy.” Most important, he said, the audience needs to “understand that I really care what happens in their lives.”

He doesn't stop there. He's also really passionate about crime reporting.

“People care about that — what’s going wrong in society, who’s doing it and what the accountability is. Those types of stories are very important if you are trying to demonstrate to the audience that you care. I will do those stories and I will do them with a lot of gusto.”

Finally! Somebody who's willing to address chopped up bodies and child molesters before 9 am.

ABC Names New Morning News Anchor [Elizabeth Jensen, New York Times]

Though the president of ABC News, David Westin, claims he is in no rush to replace Charlie Gibson when he leaves Good Morning America, the New York Times is throwing out the names of a few broadcasters who "are expected to be showcased in Mr. Gibson's absence."

Mere breaths after mentioning that Robin Roberts will still be on board, possibly gaining Campbell Brown as a co-host should Diane Sawyer leave, we get fed rumors of male anchors who are "being considered" as GMA hosts.

They are Bill Ritter, an anchor on WABC-TV in New York and a correspondent on "20/20"; Bill Weir, a co-anchor of the weekend edition of "Good Morning America"; and Chris Cuomo, a legal affairs reporter for the network. ABC is also said to be interested in Anderson Cooper, who is the host of his own program on CNN, but who is under a long-term contract.

This is starting to feel like the search for Chris Wilson's replacement — as in, Chris Cuomo would surely laugh in this guy's face Choire Sicha style.

And while we are sure Anderson Cooper would just love to host a morning talk show on ABC, he is already next in line for Oprah's job. Come on, nobody actually wants Diane Sawyer for anything.

ABC Rejects Dual Anchors in 2nd Shuffle [Jacques Steinberg, New York Times]